2 Boxes - 1 is able to create a series link, the other will not allow add/delete/modify

[CannonFoddr]

Background: 2 Boxes

- Upstairs is 'Main': Connected by Network & Coaxial.

- Downstairs is 'Slave': Has only Coaxial so is connected to My WiFi

Problem:

Mum trying to set up a series link for a single program (today 25 May - BBC1 - 'The Repair Shop')
Goes to 'Guide' on the downstairs 'Slave' box - She highlight the program & press the 'Circle R' (record) button

Option available are 'Record this episode', 'Record & remind', 'Change Series link+ other options' & 'Explore this show' which seems to indicate there's already a series link, however the guide does NOT show the multiple circle 'R' icon.

Tried Deleting the series link ['Change Series link+Other options' > 'Cancel this series link' > 'Yes cancel'] & tried again but once again the 'RRR' icon does not show up.
Note that WHEN I went to cancel this series link I had a list of 'BBC 1' and  about 5  'All available channels' showing. I deleted ALL of these

The normal one-off recording function works ok though (single 'R' icon)

BTW I tried exactly the same on the Main (upstairs) box & everything worked fine - even got the 'RRR' logo

 - So I tried the Virgin control App.
Selected the Box > Manage > Series Link+ Manager and I see TWO entries for 'The Repair Shop'
'The Repair Shop' and 'The Repair Shop (101)'

Tapping on 'The Repair shop' entry' show details (recording only, from series 1,New only etc etc)

Tapping on 'The Repair shop (101)' just brings up a blank screen with a rotating 'buffering' icon

Going to 'Planned Recording' I see 'Repair Shop (101' is set for today - although it has a 'Tick' instead of the 'RRR' - tapping this & then on the pencil icon shows 4 options (modify Recording Options/Cancel Recording/Modify Series Link/Cancel Series Link)

Tapping any of the options bring up the relevant options, but on the series link options when I tap [Modify] or [Cancel] I get popup message of:-
'Unable to Schedule Recording -  An Error occurred while trying to schedule a recording. Please try again later'


It seems to me I somehow have a either a corrupted series link or recording conflict somehow for just this show (I tried other shows on this box & all seems to work normally) but nowhere can I find a message of conflicts

Any help Appreciated..

[japitts]

Firstly, and although I suspect I know why you've called the second box "slave", in TiVo/V6 land, all boxes have their own hard drive.. just incase you weren't aware.

I'm not near my V6 to be able to fully test, but I've connected remotely using TV Control and the metadata looks fine, so that's not the issue. There's 2 common reasons for a programme you think should be set to record from an SL not doing so..

1: You're finding what is actually the second or third showing, and the box has correctly found the first showing and is recording that. Don't think that's the issue here.

2: On a previous occasion you have manually told the box not to record this episode, and that "do not record" flag is sticky regardless of how many times you subsequently play with SL options. There's no way around this apart from manually setting record for your chosen showing.

You can check for recording conflicts using My Shows > My Planned recordings, scroll to the episode that's missing and it'll be in dark grey with the reason for failure, showing. I suspect in your case, scenario 2 is the most likely - and in which case, give up trying to fix it now because it's not fixable. Set a manual recording and just make sure the next episode sets correctly.

[CannonFoddr]

1: You're finding what is actually the second or third showing, and the box has correctly found the first showing and is recording that. Don't think that's the issue here.

You're correct in assumption that this is not the problem - 'The Repair Shop' we're trying to record is the first showing of it. totally 'New' & there's no previous records of this episode before today

2: On a previous occasion you have manually told the box not to record this episode, and that "do not record" flag is sticky regardless of how many times you subsequently play with SL options. There's no way around this apart from manually setting record for your chosen showing.

Well - we can record it by setting it manually each week (that's what we're having to do today) but if this is the case - Dam !!!. There is apparently several 'reset' options for the V6  box ( How to reset a Virgin Media TV Box | Virgin Media Help) - apparently can take up to an hour to do.  - Maybe if we get desperate might give it a try since a couple of them do state clearing 'Series links' which might clear sticky 'do not record' flags.

Maybe someone with experience of these other options can shed some light

You can check for recording conflicts using My Shows > My Planned recordings, scroll to the episode that's missing and it'll be in dark grey with the reason for failure, showing
I've already looked at 'planned recordings' &  even 'recording activity' and there's no conflicts showing & any past recordings of this particular show all show 'not new' or 'duplicate' which isn't surprising since this show is play not only on BBC (101) but also on 4 other BBC HD channels (The not new are in fact last weeks showings, duplicates are the one that were played today)

Thanks for taking time to answer me

[japitts]

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@CannonFoddr wrote:

There is apparently several 'reset' options for the V6  box apparently can take up to an hour to do.  - Maybe if we get desperate might give it a try since a couple of them do state clearing 'Series links' which might clear sticky 'do not record' flags. Maybe someone with experience of these other options can shed some light

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They don't clear the flag, I can promise you that. No amount of resets will correct this - just set a manual recording for this episode and check the series links for future ones.

1: The reset that takes "upto an hour" is effectively a reformat of your box IIRC. Try it if you want to, but I guarantee you it won't help this one recording.

There are much easier ways of dealing with series link issues than resetting your V6 - which very rarely makes any difference to issues such as this.

2: The "don't record this episode" flag is specific to each episode. Is your series link scheduling future episodes to record? It should be - providing you've not manually cancelled that as well. If you have, then just set the manual recording again.

[Lee_R]

Hi CannonFoddr thanks for posting and welcome back to our community.

Sorry to hear you've been having issues setting a series link on one of your boxes.  Have you been able to follow the advice from the fantastic japitts?  Has the advice helped?

Regards

Lee_R